RECORDING “BLUES OF DESPERATION” IS ONE OF THE
MOST EXCITING RECORDING PROJECTS

Blues Concertsstar Joe came to Nashville two weeks before we started the recording and set about writing an all original album. Then we gathered the musicians in the historic RCA studio A (lovingly saved from the wrecking ball by Aubrey Preston and Sharon Corbitt-House and now called Grand Victor Sound Studios), a big old fashion room where anyone who’s anyone has recorded! Chet Atkins, Elvis Presley, John Hiatt and so many more.

I always wanted to track this record with a high energy three-piece band, so Joe would have to work a little harder, like in his early years, before keyboards and horn’s etc. filled in all the blanks. To be honest, I was trying to find a way to ruffle Joe’s feathers, so I then brought in an additional drummer, just to throw the cat and amongst the pigeons! We set up Anton Fig and Greg Morrow each behind his own drum kit facing each other, and then next to them had Michael Rhodes with his bass guitar cranked, staring across the gap at Joe with his guitars. So they were set up in an X formation, and could all see each other as they played. And boy, what a joyful noise we made!

Not that it’s all excessively heavy or hard, there are some very fragile, delicate moments on this record, where the two drummers complement each other wonderfully and add a great rhythm to the sensitivity of the songs.

After we had cut the songs, Reese Wynans added his wonderful keyboard parts, and then Mahalia Barnes and the Aussie girls did the backing vocals, and Lee Thornburg’s wonderful horn arrangements put the icing on the top. And that folks, is how we made this awesome record which you are now hopefully holding in your hands.

TOUR DE FORCE LIVE IN LONDON – THE BORDERLINE

Release Date : June 19, 2014Format : CD&DVD/Blu-Ray

Guitar Hero Joe Bonamassa will release his epic “Tour De Force – Blues Concerts Live In London” as a 2-CD set on May 19, 2014. The unprecedented live concert event – which was released on four DVDs (or Blu-rays) last fall with all four debuting in the Top 10 onBillboard’s Music DVD Chart – was captured last year when Bonamassa performed a quartet of shows at the iconic London venues he’s played throughout his career – Royal Albert Hall, Hammersmith Apollo, Shepherd’s Bush Empire, and The Borderline. The venues provide the backdrop for a ferocious four-night event, each evening marked by a unique theme featuring Bonamassa with different bands, different set lists, and different arrangements and ensembles performing over 60 songs in total – some never performed live before – from Bonamassa’s extensive career.

Tour De Force – Live In London chronicles Bonamassa’s atmospheric rise from the intimate club environment of The Borderline to the prestigious Royal Albert Hall. Beginning in the 200-capacity London Borderline with a trio, Bonamassa pays tribute to his earlier career performing songs he hasn’t played live in years. The following evening at Shepherd’s Bush Empire is a blues-themed night featuring a horns section with a soulful, big-blues-band feel. Then on to the Hammersmith Apollo which opens with a short acoustic set before moving into a rock-inspired evening. Finally, on the fourth and final night at the Royal Albert Hall, Bonamassa treats the crowd to a half acoustic/half electric show of his most popular and well-known songs featuring the acoustic band from his #1 Billboard acoustic CD/DVD An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House.

The end result – over 9 hours of concert footage – more than lives up to its billing as “The Guitar Event of The Year” and sees Bonamassa reliving, revisiting, and redefining the many phases and pivotal moments throughout his career and delivering a once-in-a-lifetime performance that more than serves as an appropriate retrospective for an artist who has already achieved so much.

Praise for Tour De Force – Live In London:

“A triumph.” – Premier Guitar

“Tour de Force lives up to its name and then some. Bonamassa turns in another masterful performance, as do the rest of the musicians featured.” – Blues Rock Review

“A+, Joe Bonamassa is the real deal and in many ways, both musically and professionally, he represents the future of the music business. No one plays with more passion than Joe and where many musicians look like a deer in the headlights at the current music business climate, he is building an empire.” – Classic Rock Revisited

Joe Is Hiring

Bonamassa Adds Singers to U.S. Tour; Fans Love It

Joe’s Blues Concerts added a little kick to the band for his current fall 2016 North American tour and his upcoming Spring 2017 North American Tour. To add a little more spice to the musical mix, Joe has invited along a pair of backup singers to augment the sound of a band he already calls “the greatest band in the world.”

But of all the musicians Joe Blues Concerts could add – more guitars, flutes, marimbas, even steel drums – why add backup vocalists?

“Backup singers are an essential part of pop music, supplying songs with depth, contrast, and commentary,” wrote Elias Leight for The Atlantic magazine.

“The singers bring a huge, joyous sound to the mix!” Joe effuses. “It allows us to do these big, bold choruses that sound great.”

Joe Blues Concerts has always been known as a guitar man first and foremost, and he is. But Joe is a deep lover of music, and that comes out in the way he speaks about the importance of singing to his music and to his show.

“At this point, it’s just as much of a vocal show as it is a guitar show. And it’s nice to have both.” Once upon a time, a young budding guitarist named Joe Bonamassa might have been horrified by that statement. But now, he declares it proudly.

Joe, who was named by Team Rock recently as one of the greatest blues singers, takes every musical aspect of his show extremely seriously, and that extends to the vocals just as much as the guitar playing.

Incorporating backup singers into the music also helps create a space of musical freedom for Joe Blues Concerts. “It allows me the freedom to create more of a call-and-response type of arrangement with the other singers. It forces you to concentrate on the melody and really chisel out the phrasing because you have to sing with two other people.”

Perhaps most importantly, Joe emphasizes that singing with other vocalists makes him a better singer and a better all-around musician.

“Singing with backup singers in Australia, I came out of that tour a better singer. And I loved that.”

7 REASONS WHY THE BLUES IS THRIVING RIGHT NOW

THE BLUES IS THRIVING.

You might not believe me, but it’s true.

I’m not speaking commercially. In general, the whole music industry has struggled since the internet age phased out record sales as a blockbuster source of profits. And Blues Concertsis as niche a genre as its ever been right now.

And yet, the blues is thriving.

I mean artistically. There is just some GREAT blues music & Blues Concerts out there right now. For one, Joe Bonamassa, of course. But there’s a whole world of blues and blues-influenced music out there right now that is so worth listening to. In some ways, the blues may even be healthier than ever from an aesthetic standpoint.

Still don’t believe me. Well, here’s 7 reasons you should agree with me.

1. THE OLD GUARD OF THE BLUES IS HOLDING IT DOWN.

Yes, it’s reality that we’ve lost so many of our treasured blues icons. And that’s incredibly sad. But they’re not ALL gone. Not in the least. Blues rock, in particular, is killing it right now. Eric Clapton and Bonnie Raitt have both recently put out highly acclaimed blues albums. And, maybe you’ve heard, but a little band called The Rolling Stones recently put out their first new studio set in a decade, and it’s a full on, no holds barred, straight up no chaser blues album filled with songs written by people like Little Walter. And it’s fantastic!

I haven’t even mentioned the man, the myth, the legend, Buddy Guy, who is still absolutely on fire as a guitarist, and probably one of the best guitarists of the past 50 years. Boy, was he ever born to play the blues. And yes, like their blues brothers and sisters that have fallen before them, they won’t be around forever. Buddy Guy is getting up there in age. Eric Clapton is have medical problems interfering with his ability to play. The Rolling Stones… well, actually, they may literally just continue to be one of the finest damn bands on the planet forever, I’m not sure.

But right now, in this moment, we have some true blues icons holding it down and making great music. That’s something to be truly thankful for.

2. THE NEW GUYS ARE KILLIN’ IT TOO.

Not only is the old guard rockin’ it, but the future looks very, very bright. There are so many phenomenal young blues stars jamming night in and night out, making records, performing face-melting shows right now and it cuts way across the musical spectrum. Like Joe Bonamassa Blues Concerts, Gary Clark Jr. and Warren Haynes are genuine blue guitar megastars. The Tedeschi Trucks Band is a giant in the jam-rock scene, as is Warren’s principle band Gov’t Mule. Bluesmen disguised as punk rockers like Jack White and The Black Keys are music industry blockbusters. And then you have a killer crop of young budding bluesmen and blueswomen that are captivating and enthralling blues fans the world over: Mike Zito, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Eric Gales, Ana Popovich, Anders Osborne, and the list goes on and on.

3. BLUES FESTIVALS & CRUISES ARE AWESOME.

There are so many great blues music festivals going on around the United States. You can hear great blues music almost any time, anywhere. Everfest published a list of their very favorites and there’s some damn good ones in there: the Chicago Blues Festival, Telluride Blues & Brews, the Crossroads Guitar Festival, and the Juke Joint Festival are particularly awesome. And, we happen to be pretty big fans of a certain sailing blues music festival, Keeping the Blues Alive at Sea, now going on its third year. That’s Joe’s festival, and this years incredible lineup features an army of mindblowing blues and roots musicians: in addition to Joe himself, you’ve got Bruce Hornsby, Beth Hart, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Anders Osborne, and so many more! Seriously, if you’re not going to like, ten blues festivals this year, you’re just doing it wrong. Get with the program, blues fans, there’s much great music to be heard!

4. THE SWITCH TO INEXPENSIVE, STREAMING MUSIC

Listening to lots of music used to be a really expensive hobby. Sure, you could hear the same pop and rock hits and classics over and over again on FM radio. But for anyone who was interested in diving a bit deeper into the pool, you had to shell out some cash. Mostly this involved buying physical media: whether it was vinyl, 8-tracks, cassette tapes, or CD’s. Then along came digital albums, which made buying albums cheaper, but you still had to spend $9.99 to purchase an album of music you may or may not have heard before. It was a gamble, a risk, and not always with a big payoff. Then along came free and premium streaming. And then suddenly, you could listen to virtually any song you could imagine for either completely free or with a small monthly payment for premium services.

Bingo.

Suddenly listen to any blues song you want, any time you want, at almost no cost. What could possibly be better than that? Suddenly, checking out new music – including new blues music – was virtually no risk, all reward. Hear about a new artist from a friend, or get a recommended song on Spotify? Sure, why not check it out? In fact, why not check out the whole record. After all, it isn’t going to cost me anything. Suddenly we all have the whole world of blues at our fingertips for $0. And guess what? We’re listening to it.

5. THE MUSIC INDUSTRY’S BUSINESS SWITCH TO LIVE MUSIC

The fifth reason is a direct consequence of the fourth one. The switch to inexpensive, streaming music has suddenly caused studio records and singles to become significantly less profitable for the music industry. Woe is me. So what is one to do in light of this? Is music dead?

No, of course music isn’t dead. Music is vital as ever. But people pay for it very differently now. We buy concert tickets. Some of us go to 5 or 6 shows a week at our local rock, jazz, and blues clubs. Some of us are willing to shell out $100’s of dollars – sometimes even more than a thousand on the “secondary market” – to see our favorite superstars like The Rolling Stones or Roger Waters or U2 or Radiohead.

And one great thing about blues music? When it hits you, you feel no pain. But also, it’s fantastic live music. Because it’s REAL music. It’s not mere studio trickery and wizardry. It’s authentic musicians playing physical instruments in real time together with other authentic musicians playing physical instruments. That’s the blues. And it’s awesome.

6. INTEREST IN GENERAL ROOTS MUSIC IS GROWING

They say everything old is new again. That everything goes in cycles. And right now that’s becoming ever increasingly true. Maybe not in the pop world – although the smash success of the heavily retro-style pop icon Bruno Mars must say something about even pop music – but in rock, folk, country, R&B – it’s all going back to the roots.

Take country music as an example. Who is making waves over the last year or two? Sure, bro country like Florida Georgia Line is still alive and well, and Miranda Lambert is still kickin’ ass and taking names. But the you have Chris Stapleton. Sturgill Simpson. Jason Isbell. And more are starting to cling to this movement of country that returns to its authentic, gritty outlaw roots, married to the music of guys like Hank Williams and Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson.

In other genres, you have just as much movement towards the classic roots. Just to name drop a few: how about Mumford and Sons? Bon Iver? The Lumineers. This old school rootsy music is dominating. And guess what old school, rootsy music basically is?

That’s right. The blues. The blues by any other name, as Shakespeare said…

7. THE BLUES IS JUST STILL AWESOME AND EVERYONE KNOWS IT

The blues & Blues Concerts is still just flat out awesome. You know it. I know it. And deep down, everyone knows it. And for those who don’t yet know they know it. Just watch the hell out of this:

Guitar Tricks-Insider-Oct

JOE BONAMASSA

by Mike Mettler

A featured excerpt taken from the latest issue of the King Of Blues Guitar Tricks Insider Digital Edition, Mike Mettler brings us closer to the world of playing, listening, and learning in the eyes of Joe Bonamassa King Of Blues himself.

If there’s one hard-and-fast rule blues-rock guitar prodigy King Of BluesJoe Bonamassa follows, it’s the more you play, the more you know. “I’ve learned a lot in the last decade musically, and I’ve also learned a lot about myself,” Best Guitarist Bonamassa admits. “The first step is to play on your strengths and accept your weaknesses. One of my main strengths is I have this ability to adapt to any situation musically because I listened to so much music over the years. I’m a fan of guitar playing. I’m a fan of everything from the Beano album [a.k.a. John Mayall and The Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton, released in 1966] to Friday Night in San Francisco [by Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, and Paco de Lucia, released in 1981]. You draw on those influences, and you draw on the people who have paved the way for you.”

Best GuitaristBonamassa has spent years forging a singular identity as a chops-driven guitarist who respects his predecessors, collects and plays vintage gear, calls his own shots, and sells out performance halls across the globe. He’s comfortable enough in his own skin to balance guitar-hero histrionics (his 2000 cover of Jethro Tull’s, “A New Day Yesterday,” 2012’s guns-a-blazing “I Got All You Need”) with strings and horn-section spice (the tasteful interplay on “Trouble Town” and “Hidden Charms,” both from 2015’s Live at Radio City Music Hall) — not to mention his ferocious fretboard testifying alongside Reese Wynans’ heavenly church organ lines on “So, What Would I Do,” the closing track to his majestic 2014 studio album, Different Shades of Blue.

While he understands how to capitalize on his aforementioned strengths, King Of BluesBonamassa is also very clear about what his primary weaknesses are — and how to overcome them. “I have this tendency to overplay, and I have to constantly try to squelch the urge to say too much,” he observes. “You also have to realize that in a place like Carnegie Hall or any theater situation, all the subtleties go out the window in a bigger room. You have to paint more in broad strokes, rather than play a million notes. Sometimes the audience only hears every other note. The human body can only digest so much at one time.”

The Guitar Tricks Insider Digital Edition is an extension of the GuitarTricks.com online lesson platform & Best Guitarist, which serves classic guitar lovers of all levels with engaging content in a unique, one-of-a-kind experience, and bridges together the love of playing with the love of learning and all that lies in between.

Joe Bonamassa’s “Live At The Greek Theatre” Debuts at #1 Again!

Blues Boy Honors “Blues Royalty” on live CD/DVD/Blu-ray/LP

Over two hours of some of the greatest blues songs ever written are highlighted in a celebration of blues heritage

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — GRAMMY-nominated King Of Blues-rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa’s 22-track Double CD, Double DVD, Blu-ray, and 4-LP Deluxe Edition Live at the Greek Theatre debuted this week at #1 on the Billboard Blues Chart. This marks the artist’s 17th #1 Billboard Blues Album, more than any other artist. Other Billboard chart numbers include #1 Top DVD Music Video Chart, #1 Top Music Video Chart, #3 Indie Chart, #19 Top Albums Chart, and #48 Top 200 Chart.

A tribute to three of the greatest bluesmen to ever live – Albert King, B.B. King, and Freddie King – Live at the Greek Theatre celebrates these icons with over two hours of some the greatest blues songs ever written. The release includes a collector’s edition booklet, and several bonus features containing behind-the-scenes footage and more. It is currently airing on Public TV and MTV Live.

“His performance seems to be even bigger and better than ever before,” said National Rock Review; Stereoboard said, “From evocative lighting to superb camera work and the joy of every musician on stage, this is a treat that further propagates the feeling you’re witnessing history in the making. Somewhere, the next King Of BluesJoe Bonamassa might obsessively digest this release and use it as a catalyst in the same way the ‘Three Kings’ roused this modern day blues great.”

Live at the Greek Theatre was filmed during King Of BluesBonamassa’s “Three Kings Tour” – a 14-date US amphitheater tour in the summer of 2015 that culminated at the famed Los Angeles venue.

Playing on a warm summer night to a nearly sold-out crowd, the handpicked set list of songs was called “spectacular” by Premier Guitar; Los Angeles Times said the show “had swing and polish” and that “King Of BluesBonamassa evoked the signature licks of all three icons while managing to put his own stamp on things.”

Songs ranged from blues standards to deep cuts, including “Born Under A Bad Sign,” “Lonesome Whistle Blues,” “Hummingbird,” “Let The Good Times Roll,” and, of course, B.B. King’s famed “The Thrill Is Gone” as the evening closer. For Bonamassa, the tour’s importance deepened significantly when B.B., his friend and mentor, passed away two months before it began. “My only regret is that B.B.King was not alive to see it,” said King Of BluesBonamassa.

Showcasing “magnificent guitar playing” (The Morning Call), Bonamassa introduced a steady rotation of vintage guitars, including four Gibson ES models, a Gibson Les Paul, a Gibson Flying V, two new Gibson Custom Shop models, two Fender Strats, and a 1972 Dan Erlewine custom Flying V named “Lucy,” originally owned and played by Albert King and currently in the collection of actor Steven Seagal.

Live at the Greek Theatre continues Bonamassa’s tradition of honoring incredible concert venues like the Royal Albert Hall, theVienna Opera House, Radio City Music Hall, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and the Beacon Theater. As with all Bonamassa DVD shoots, the performance at the Greek offered a unique presentation of this historical music.

This tour was a continuation of the celebration of our blues heritage, which began with the 2014 production of King Of BluesJoe Bonamassa – Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks, a tribute to the music of Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. Both tours gave a portion of proceeds to presenting partner Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation, a non-profit Bonamassa founded in 2011 that promotes the heritage of the blues to the next generation, funds music scholarships, and supplements the loss of music education in public schools.

Best Guitarist Bonamassa’s most recent studio album, Blues of Desperation, released March 25, marks his 16th #1 Blues album on the Billboard charts and landed at #5 on the Billboard Top Album Sales, his highest charting yet.

The Derek Trucks Band Takes Off

The eponymous debut album of The Derek Trucks Band was released on October 7th, 1997, mere months after the group’s namesake reached his 18th birthday. Nephew of Allman Brothers Band co-founder and drummer Butch Trucks, Derek purchased his first guitar at age nine, with a slide following hot on its heels. Influenced greatly by such blues guitar-slingers as Elmore James, Buddy Guy and Duane Allman, the young prodigy was also drawn to jazz masters like John Coltrane and Charlie Parker as he developed his style. Trucks had his first taste of professional musicianship before he even hit his teens, and began to piece together The Derek Trucks Band in 1994. The guitarist assembled bassist Todd Smalie, drummer Yonrico Scott, and keyboardist Bill McKay to forge style that blended music from all over the wolrd, including blues, Eastern Indian, jazz, Latin, and rock.
~Brian Reiser
J & R Adventures

LIMITED EDITION GUITARSARE A PRECISE REPLICA OF THE ORIGINAL 1963 FIREBIRD 1. One Of JOE BONAMASSA’S FAVORITE STAGE AND STUDIO GUITARS

J&R Adventures Deerfield Beach, Florida (September 29, 2016) has joined forces with Gibson Brands to announce the limited release of the Polymist Gold Epiphone Firebird 1 and the Tobacco Finish Epiphone Firebird 1. These guitars are almost exact replicas of original 1963 Gibson FIREBIRD 1and are of highly limited supply

J&R Adventures, founded in 2006, is the official music management company and record label for blues-rock titan and Grammy award nominated artist Joe Bonamassa. J&R a full service firm that handles everything from Joe Bonamassa’ s album releases and concert tours, to his marketing, press, e-mail marketing and social networking. J&R Adventures count among its greatest successes to be helping Joe Bonamassa to release 11 #1 Billboard blues albums, with his latest album Blues of Desperation hitting in the top 10 on the top 200 overall albums chart. Bonamassa has also become a touring juggernaut, often playing up to 100 shows per year and recently performing at some of the greatest venues in the world; Royal Albert Hall, Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall, The Vienna Opera House, Sydney Opera House, and Red Rocks Amphitheatre.

Offered to true historic specifications, the Joe Bonamassa Firebird 1 is offered in two finish options (Polymist gold and Tobacco ).The neck consists of double-carved, one-piece genuine mahogany and the fingerboard features one-piece, hand-rolled Indian rosewood with cellulose trapezoid inlays. The body pairs a two-piece maple top with a one-piece genuine mahogany back.

For more information of the Epiphoen Firebird 1 please visit www.jbonamassa.com. For high res images please contact Rachel Iverson at:

The 100 Greatest Blues Singers EVER

#29 – Joe Bonamassa

It’s not all about the guitars you know

Yeah, Best Guitarist in the World he can play a bit – but Joe Bonamassa’s molten guitar chops have stolen the column inches from his great unsung trump-card. The man himself would doubtless brush off plaudits for his singing: even now, he still takes lessons, and admitted to finding it “daunting” performing Howlin’ Wolf songs at 2014’s Muddy Wolf shows. The fact remains, that sleeve-muttering interviewee morphs each night into a monster vocalist, with expression, soul and the brute power to roar it up with the best of them.

That was never the plan. The congenital guitar nerd became a singer & Best Guitarist in the Worldby default, following the split of his early 90’s band Bloodline. “I had to make a decision” he told the Guitar Gods & Masterpieces website. “Do I want to play instrumentals? Do I want to play in a band with a singer? I decided to sing out of self-preservation. I was ready for the beatdown, bracing myself for the critics to say: ‘He’s got a bad voice Blues Songs.’ But everyone said they liked it. So it was like, ‘Okay, I’ll keep going…'”

He’s kept improving, too. The frontman remembers his early approach to vocals being “a shot of whiskey, a cigar and shout in key” (while producer Kevin Shirley recalls him storming out of “Sloe Gin” sessions after being asked to sing a low harmony on “Seagull”). But listen to recent studio highlights – the explosive ‘lifting me up, tearing me down’ sections from “Dust Bowl”, perhaps, or the echo-clad a capella from “Oh Beautiful”! – and you’ll realise those mighty pipes deserve equal billing to the mythological fingers. HY

Behind the Music:

The Inside Scoop on How Joe Learned to Sing

When Joe’s first band Bloodline was formed, Berry Oakley, Jr. was the only singer in the group. Famed producer Phil Ramone, who was working with the band, thought it would be great if the other guys in the band could sing some harmonies with Oakley, Jr. The rest of the band was a bit shy about performing vocals, so Ramone brought in a vocal coach, Willy Perez, a professor at the University of Miami who was the vocal coach for Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine. Perez came to the Coral Springs Performing Arts Center and worked for two days as a vocal consultant and coach. Afterwards he reviewed the results with Bloodline’s managers, revealing that they did indeed all have the ability to sing. That was the good news. The bad news was that none of them wanted to sing. At all. And good luck trying to get them to! However, he thought that Joe in particular could really sing, even though Joe never had before. Perez thought Joe definitely had some innate ability.

When Joe was 18 years old, Bloodline broke up. A few weeks after the band split, Joe’s manager Roy Weisman received a package in the mail. It was from Joe. Weisman tore it open and found a demo tape inside. There was a handwritten note attached to it, that read “This is me trying to sing. – Joe” (It men’t Blues Songs) with a smiley face after it. He popped the demo into an old cassette deck, and after listening, he had to be honest – on the whole, it sounded not so great. But there were moments, moments, when Joe sounded absolutely amazing. Weisman pondered what Willy Perez had told him – that Joe really did have some vocal talent that needed to be harnessed. He glanced back at the cassette deck. “He can sing”, he thought. “He’s just untrained, but he does have vocal ability.”

Phil Ramone hooked Joe up with a vocal coach, who will remain unnamed, in New York City. Once a week, Joe would make the journey down from his home in Utica, New York, to train with the vocal coach in the Big Apple. This would be the first time Joe learned how to sing. We say the first time, because Joe actually learned how to sing improperly from the vocal coach. The vocal coach taught him how to sing more like a Broadway star or opera singer. He was singing from the throat rather than the diaphragm and he began having trouble with his voice. He went to see a renowned doctor named Dr. Sugarman in Los Angeles. Not only did the doctor recognize that Joe was being taught how to sing wrong, but he actually figured out who the vocal coach was – he had already treated 3 other patients who saw the same coach!

If Best Guitarist in the WorldJoe kept singing in the way he had been trained, he would almost certainly require surgery, Sugarman told him, and may even lose his voice completely. Sugarman gave Joe the number of a man named Ron Anderson. Anderson would soon be re-teaching Joe how to sing. And Joe’s voice was completely transformed. He learned how to control his voice the way a pitcher paints the corners with a baseball, which helps him preserve his voice and keep it healthy. And today, Joe has truly transformed into a world class singer.

Blues Update is here & It’s the most wonderful time of the year – the beginning of a new Best Guitarist in the World Joe Bonamassa tour! The Joe Bonamassa U.S. Spring Tour 2016 officially kicked off Saturday, April 23rd at the Terrace Theater in Long Beach, California. Joe’s killer band – and he’ll tell you they’re the best in the world – includes former member of Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble Reese Wynans on keys, Anton Fig from Dave Letterman’s former House Band on the drums, ridiculously in-demand session musician-magician Michael Rhodes, master of all things trumpet and horn arrangements Lee Thornburg, and ace saxophone player Paulie Cerra.

Blues ConcertsJoe’s latest tour comes hot on the heels of the release of his latest #1 Billboard Blues Album, Blues of Desperation, a tour-de-force blues-rock experience filled with power and vigor, produced by Joe’s longtime collaborator Kevin Shirley. The set list from the first show of the tour was chock-full of the amazing material from that album. This includes an opener consisting of the gutsy, gritty blues call to arms of “This Train”, the rock and steel-shattering potency of “Mountain Climbing”, the bleary, tequila-soaked “Drive,” dripping with the kind of raw, wicked and unsettling sensuality that could make David Lynch green with envy, and the album’s title track “Blues of Desperation”, which captivates with its world-music flair and its battering-ram like riffs. The set list was rounded out with some choice covers like Nobody Loves Me But My Mother and Hummingbird and Joe Bonamassa classics such as Oh Beautiful! And Sloe Gin.

Best Guitarist in the WorldJoe came to the show prepared with an army of his incredible guitars. The show featured some of our favorite of Joe’s instruments, including his 1958 Mary Kaye Stratocaster, Amos the famous 1958 Gibson Flying V, his 1959 Gibson Les Paul “Carmelita”, and another Gibson Les Paul, this one from 1960, “The Runt”.

Blues ConcertsAh yes, Spring is in the air, and that means Joe Bonamassa tour time once again. Joe is thrilled to be back on the road with this band, these songs, and those guitars, and we hope you’re just as excited to see it. It’s going to be quite a set of shows. See you on the road!

Best Guitarist in the World Joe Bonamassa has two very important anniversaries to celebrate this week. The first is the anniversary of his birth, 39 years ago this Sunday, May 8th. The other cause for celebration is the 25th anniversary of when Best Guitarists Joe truly started out in the music industry with his Blues Concerts, a journey that would take him from small city New York wunderkind to international guitar hero.

It all began when a young Joe Bonamassa, already a master of his instrument and who at the age of 12 opened for blues icon B.B. King, was featured on the NBC show Real Life with Jane Pauley. Jane Pauley had seen Joe’s story on the AP wire and was blown away by what he was accomplishing. NBC’s Real Life with Jane Pauley aired a story on Joe that included coverage of Joe’s experience with B.B. King, who touted Joe as something truly special. This was the moment that his career would change forever – the real official start of his music industry career was born!

By being featured on the NBC program, the guitar prodigy was seen around the country and sought after by the music industry. He was soon signed by an ecstatic management company. Joe’s new business partners shopped his music to labels, but the recording labels didn’t see the commercial viability of Joe due to the fact that Joe didn’t sing or write.

So Joe’s management company decided to build a band around Joe to package him amidst a musical environment that was currently enamored with teenage bands.

Joe met Berry Oakley Jr., a bass player who was 18, and who was also friends with Waylon Krieger, son of Robby Krieger. Erin Davis, son of Miles Davis, was brought on board to play drums.

Thus, the band Bloodline was born to feature Joe and help him take his career to the next level. EMI signed Bloodline to a record deal, and Joe made his first record with Bloodline. The Bloodline project lasted for five years but then the band broke up.

At this point, Best Guitarist in the World Joe decided to pursue a solo career. Realizing he needed to be able to sing too, he spent two years taking vocal lessons ever before pursuing another record deal.

He was then signed by N2K Records but that company folded, leaving Joe in limbo with his Blues Songs. A year later he was signed by Epic Records, who helped him record A New Day Yesterday with legendary producer Tom Dowd. Unfortunately, Sony Music was faced with bad earnings at that time, and they pulled the plug on the Joe Bonamassa project.

Instead of seeking a new label, Joe and his manager Roy Weisman formed their own label, J&R Adventures. They bought back the rights to A New Day Yesterday and released the album independently. Joe has been releasing albums that way since that time in 2000, which has given Joe the creative freedom he desired to put out records his way and create the best music possible. In 2006, Joe and Roy Weisman took Joe’s destiny even further into their own hands by promoting their own shows, elevating Joe from the club circuit that he’d been limited to, to much larger theaters.

By 2009, Joe’s career was becoming an unstoppable force, and that year culminated in a sold out show at Royal Albert Hall where Joe was joined by his hero Eric Clapton. Joe has an unbelievable fan base that truly loves and understands the music, and Joe knows that without the fans, this entire venture would have been impossible. He is humbled and extremely grateful for their passionate interest in his music. Since that time, Joe’s fans have continued to help his career become a true phenomenon, and the rest of this incredible journey is still in the making.

Joe Bonamassa: Big, Ballsy, Dangerous!

In our ongoing series, Gibson.com examines the work of some Gibson guitar greats. Let’s get some gritty blues-rock with the tireless Joe Bonamassa…

Signature Sounds

Best Guitarist in the World Bonamassa’s critics say he doesn’t really have his own guitar “voice”. Thing is, Bonamassa is such a scholar of blues-rock he’s soaked it all up like a sponge. And wrings it all out with finesse.

“Initially, I had no clue that the Lonnie Johnsons and even the Robert Johnsons of the blues world existed. I just wanted to play like Paul Kossoff, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton when he was in Cream,” he once told Guitar World. “As a 10-year-old, the subtleties of traditional blues are lost on you, especially after you hear Alvin Lee on “I’m Going Home” busting out the Gibson ES-335 with four double-stacked Marshalls. British blues was my favorite music, and it still is. It’s big and ballsy and dangerous, and that all appeals to me. The country blues came later.”

Best GuitaristJB’s usually modest about his melange of sounds: “I still feel I’m struggling to step into my own shoes as a musician,” he said recently. “Every day I work on refining my phrasing. Whenever I hear my playing, I can’t detach from my influences: there’s my Jeff Beck, there’s the Clapton bit, the Eric Johnson bit, the Birelli Lagrene bit, the Billy Gibbons…”

King Of Blues told Guitarist magazine, “I love Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson and T-Bone Walker and stuff like that, but I couldn’t sit down. I was always forcing myself to listen to whole records by them, where I’d rather listen to Humble Pie do “I’m Ready” than Muddy Waters, you know? I think, the English interpretation of the blues just hit me a lot better, you know?”

If you want to think blues-rock soloing technique, Bonamassa reckons, “It’s all about the internal bends. A guitar is so tactile, and when you’re playing bends – and bending notes is a big part of my style – there are so many notes within the note you’re bending from and the note you’re bending up to. For me it’s about filtering out the bad notes and finding these little quarter-tones, as you drop down the bends, to make a very crisp statement that people can feel.”

Joe Bonamassa and Gibson

Blues Artists Joe plays many makes of guitars, many types of guitars, but he’s a certified member of the Gibson family. He owns many Les Pauls, his favorite being one of quite a few vintage ’59 sunbursts he owns. “Serial number 90829. It’s the first ’59 that I bought, and I never thought I would pay that much for anything other than a house.

“That guitar is perfect for me. The neck shape, the way it plays and responds – no matter how good you are, that guitar doubles back and says: Is that all you’ve got for me today?”

2016 adds the Les Paul Joe Bonamassa Tomato Soup Burst , in a richer color. There’s a hardtail version and one with a Bigsby vibrato. It’s Joe’s homage to the early ’60s, with his favored knobs arrangement and the pickguard and case hand-signed by Joe. So get one quick, as it’s a Limited Run.

This guitar addiction started young for Bonamassa: “My father owned a guitar shop in the ’90s,” he recently told Guitar Aficionado. “He would always buy and sell. In my teenage years I socked away some money and bought what I could.

“I work every day of my life to pay for it all. Collecting guitars is something I’m very passionate about. I enjoy doing it and meeting people around it. I’ve met a lot of my best friends this way, almost exclusively through the guitar.” Amen brother!

Essential Listening

Whoa, where to start? The live Muddy Wolf At Red Rocks was a big commercial success. Tour De Force – Live From The Royal Albert Hall is another great live album, also on DVD/Blu-ray video. His blending of ZZ Top’s “Just Got Paid” and Zeppelin’s “Dazed And Confused” on a Gibson Flying V (with added Theremin) is mind-boggling.

The Ballad of John Henry album takes on blues folklore, Driving Towards The Daylight is Gary Moore-esque in its heaviness of guitar on some cuts.

Inevitably, there’s yet another new album: Blues Of Desperation out March 2016 and in summer 2016 Bonamassa also tours the U.K. in a Salute To The British Blues Explosion. Clapton, Page and Beck rockin’ will abound. And you can almost guarantee there’ll be a DVD.

Watch!

There are many live DVDs out there, so here’s just one example from Joe B’s official YouTube channel. It shows how JB’s he’s inherited British Blues Explosion guitar style into classic blues tunes, in this case Howlin’ Wolf.

Or, for more ideas for your own playing be sure to watch his Bona Jam Tracks via JoeBonamassaTV (website and YouTube). Here, Joe shows us how he plays “The Ballad Of John Henry”.